"General Raeder, I don't know why you're interested in breaking diplomatic relations at sea? If I'm not mistaken, you've always been with Admiral Siperl in the Fast Fleet, right? You should have the most contact with the capital ship to engage in battle, not how to sneak up on the other side's merchant ships at sea, right? In a navy-owned clubhouse in Berlin, a lean lieutenant colonel looked at the admiral in front of him with some surprise.

"Lieutenant Commander Dönitz, it seems that there are some differences between us, some differences in concepts and understandings, and you use those warships or submarines cruising in the open sea as mere tools to attack merchant ships. And I think that in addition to striking the enemy's transportation lines, these warships and submarines are also tasked with attacking the enemy's scattered warships and weakening the opponent's overall combat power, if your fleet is a thief, then my fleet is a robber. Who's more destructive, I think it's clear. In fact, before the Great War, the Imperial Navy had thought of deploying a high-speed battleship formation to attack and weaken the British fleet, which was the Far East Fleet of Earl Spee, but later due to the change of situation, this fleet was not suitable for breaking diplomatic relations and guerrilla ...... Instead, it was used in the decisive battle of the fleet in the Mediterranean. Raeder was not angry at the disrespect in the other party's words, if you want to talk about the battle, this lieutenant commander with the title of sea wolf is much better than his own staff officer, after all, Raeder was only a staff officer at the beginning. Coupled with the importance of Admiral Siper, there is today's high-level ..........

"Well, I don't know what the strategies of the top are or whatever, tell me what is the purpose of you inviting me here today, I don't think it will be a boring afternoon with wine and refreshments, right? If that's the case, I'd prefer to be with my family. Dönitz said bluntly.

"Tell me, as a submarine commander, what you fear the most, what you need the most. And then I'll help you solve these problems and fulfill my own ambitions by the way, you know. The Navy is going to build a new cruiser, and I am one of the members of the committee responsible for developing the relevant technical indicators and mission requirements. And the future. I will probably be transferred to the cruiser unit. I don't want people to call me a staff general. I need to have my own strategy system, and I need people to achieve it. There was a bit of self-deprecation in Raeder's words.

The German High Seas Fleet experienced too much in the First World War, but it also made many generals stand out. The commanders of various detachments have impressive records, and even many captains of capital ships are qualified to be promoted to generals. The German Navy can arrange a lot of generals, but the first-line fleet can accommodate not many personnel, after all, the fleet is so large, the commanders of the original high seas fleet detachment are naturally given priority. And he was originally born as a staff officer. But the people who were hard-pulled to the cruiser unit by Scheer and Siperel were naturally questioned by many people! Don't look at the rank of major general, but many people are not interested in him, which is naturally a shame for Raeder, who is ambitious and wants to build a career! …。

There is a saying in China. How much money is called to do how much business. As the commander of a cruiser detachment, Raeder could only focus on the cruiser first, and what could the cruiser do? It is nothing more than to provide cover for the main fleet, or to act independently to perform some low-intensity tasks. For the former, there is little room for him to play, and in the main battle, he only needs to be able to carry out the tasks assigned by the fleet commander. No matter how much you study it, it's just a matter of tactics. But if you can break away from the main fleet and act as an independent force to carry out broken diplomatic and low-intensity engagements. Then there is a lot of autonomy, and there is more room for him to exert himself!

Raeder deserves to be a staff officer, as a qualified staff officer. Raeder first carefully studied the data collected by the naval intelligence on the Allied cruiser construction program and related warships, and then read the reports of the Allied fleets in the Great War, and then considered how to maximize the power of the weapons in his hands as a cruiser commander. …。

Raeder knew very well that even if everything went well, in the end, the only force he could have in his hands would be a cruiser formation, at most three or four cruisers. And how many cruisers could the German Navy have? With a full 280,000 cruiser tonnage, the number of cruisers may end up at around 24! If it's a fleet decisive battle. If you throw your own fleet into it, you may be a cannon fodder! It can't jump for a few times and it's gone, and it's uncertain how much impact it will have on the battle situation. And Raeder didn't want to be cannon fodder. If you don't use it as cannon fodder, you can only choose to participate in low-intensity battles or break diplomatic relations. Therefore, the direction of his research was the use of cruisers in breaking diplomatic relations and guerrilla warfare in the future, and he gave this method of warfare a name called cruiser warfare! …。

In fact, in history, Germany suffered a crushing defeat in World War I. After the destruction of the High Seas Fleet, Raeder also studied the tactics of using cruisers to strike the enemy's lines of communication, and wrote a special thesis...... He even qualified as a professor because of this. In World War II, whether it was a pocket battleship, a heavy cruiser, or a capital ship like Scharnhorst, they all participated in the operation to break diplomatic relations on the sea, and achieved certain results. Later, with the collapse of the Bismarck in the Atlantic, the once very active cruiser broke the diplomatic battle and gradually disappeared. However, from a strategic point of view, Raeder's surface ship breakthrough operation involved a lot of energy from the opponent, providing a relatively good combat environment for the submarine, and it was also effective in the early stage of the war.

And on this plane, with the further development of the German Navy, although by mistake, Raeder continued to study the topic of maritime cruising warfare, but the connotation and operational purpose were completely different, if the historical cruising war mainly relied on the attack of high-speed warships on the sea transportation line, then the cruising war on this plane was more aggressive. Attack the opponent's auxiliary ships while attacking the transports! Let's say cruisers and destroyers. There is also a greater emphasis on system warfare, and in Raeder's plan, purpose-built cruisers, submarines, and shore-based long-range patrol aircraft will be used as a whole. In order to realize this plan, the first thing Raeder needs to do is to understand what his potential partner, the submarine, needs and what help he can provide! So, he found the wolf king Dönitz!. …。

One might ask, is it necessary to break diplomatic relations in the current situation where the German Navy is unprecedentedly strong? The answer is yes, in the final analysis, there are three kinds of battles at sea, the fleet engagement, the destruction of the opponent's sea power, the breaking of the battle, and the organization of the opponent's use of the sea line of communication. Escort operations to ensure the use of sea lines of communication by one's own side. Even when it was as strong as the U.S. imperialism in the face of the Japanese Navy, submarine warfare was an indispensable link, and it was precisely because of the contribution of the submarine force that Japan clearly had the resource area of Southeast Asia, but it still faced a shortage of materials. Breaking the diplomatic relationship will always exist, but the form may be different.

"Destroyers, seaplanes. Especially the latter, if there are even 2 seaplanes on the transport fleet all the time, then we can only dive into the water and give up tracking. And you know, the speed of a submarine in the water is not at all as good as that of a transport ship. In a few hours at most, we will lose the target. There was not even a chance to attack. Dönitz paused and continued: "As for the destroyer?" With the development of sonar technology, I believe that they will become more and more threatening to submarines, and now they mostly rely on naval guns and depth charges, but at the end of the war it is said that some submarines encountered a special weapon, which can fire several depth charges at once, and then form a cover in a certain sea area. Sometimes, if a large transport fleet can have 4 destroyers, then it will be difficult for our attack to be effective. ”…………。

When their submarine is suspended on the bottom of the sea and the other party throws a depth charge near them, when the explosion shock wave from the sea water constantly knocks on the submarine hull, when some parts inside the submarine cannot withstand the huge water pressure and breaks, the fear and despair will definitely overwhelm people, and many people will be made insane. As for the fact that if it was really sunk by depth charges, the survival rate of which personnel could definitely be described as nine deaths! So for Raeder, who may be able to help him in the future...... Dönitz is still very attentive!

"Another problem is to seek the enemy, in fact, we can find prey half of our own experience and intelligence, and the other half is based on luck, the observation position of the submarine is very low, the range that can be seen is not large, plus our surface speed is not very fast, so the search range in a single submarine will be very small, if we can achieve information sharing through certain technical means, and have other people to provide us with the navigation of the ship, our efficiency will be much better." Dönitz thought for a moment and continued.

"The last issue is the issue of supplies. Shells, torpedoes and fuel are all needed. Submarines can be a challenge to their endurance if they want to intercept their opponents in a wider area of water, and sometimes they need to make a detour to avoid the opponent's anti-submarine fleet. If we can be resupplied by submarines at sea, it will be of considerable help to us. After saying that, Dönitz looked at Raeder with some expectation, wondering what kind of surprise the future "commander of the cruiser detachment" could bring to himself..........

"It seems. We have a basis for cooperation, the cruisers of the High Seas Fleet can help you deal with the annoying auxiliary cruisers and destroyers, and the cruisers' shipboard seaplanes can also provide you with maritime reconnaissance. If we can communicate by radio, then it's okay to share information with each other, but what about seaplanes? I think that if the cruiser can take off and land fighters, even if there are only a few, it will be enough to deal with the opposing seaplanes and anti-submarine patrol aircraft. Raeder thought for a moment and said.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 and the book friend hukaikaka for the tip~~~, and the book friend njluyujiang for the monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued).